Device for severing seals for receptacle closures



March 17, 1942. F, s FOL ER 2,276,476

DEVICE FOR SEVERING- SEALS FOR RECEPTACLE CLOSURES Filed July 8, 1939 INVENTOR i? 5. F0! er ari/0% ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 17, 1942 DEVICE FOR SEVERING SEALS FOR RECEPTACLE CLOSURES Frederick S. Folger, New York, N. Y.

Application July 8, 1939, Serial No. 283,442 (01. 30-2) 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a device or implement for severing sealing caps, usually of metallic fo1l,

plastic material, Celluloid and the like material engaged upon the neck of bottles to sealthe closure, whereby to facilitate removal of saidsealing caps-from bottles and while the invention is particularly applicable for severing the skirt of sealing caps on bottles it is also adapted to sever seals applied over the joint between a box body and a cover thereon.

In applying sealing caps of this character to bottles the marginal edge portion of the skirt is pressed about and below ari annularreinforcing shoulder disposed about the bottle neck. In removing the sealing cap, a pointed instrument, such as a knife blade, is engaged below the edge of the cap skirt below the shoulder on the bottle while holding the bottle in the hand to effect rupture of the cap skirt to facilitate grasping the same with the fingers to tear the cap from the br ttle neck. This is not only a tedious operation but as the neck of the bottle is of circular form the instrument may ride on" from the bottle neck and result in injury to the hand.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a device to sever sealing caps for closures on bottles arranged with a cutter adapted to be engaged with a skirt of the sealing cap on the bottle neck and by a rotary movement of the cutter about the bottle neck, or movement of the bottle relative to the cutter, sever the skirt of the sealing cap, preferably at a point above the shoulder on the bottle neck, and thus adapting the cap to be readily slipped off from the bottle neck.

It is another object of the invention to provide a combined sealing cap severing device of this character and bottle closure cap remover.

In the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this application, Figure 1 is a plan view, on an enlarged scale, of a device or implement embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing a modified embodiment of the invention and partly broken away to show the manner of removably mounting a cutter in a hand manipulating portion of the device.

In carrying out the embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 1 and 2', the device or implement is formed from a sheet metal blank, one portion of the blank being arranged as a hand grip or handle 4 of channel shape in cross section with a wall disposed relative to the end of the channel, as at 5. At one end of the hand grip there is provided a portion of increased width and arranged of bifurcated form, the legs 6 of which are of channel shape in cross section with the inner channel wall, as at 8, extending through an arc of 180 degrees and the outer channel wall extending in arcs concentric with the wall 8 and arranged with the extremities of the legs extending substantially in parallel relation. The wall 8 of the bifurcation legs is flanged outwardly to extend substantially at a right angle thereto, as at I, and said portion 1 constituting a cutter having an arcuate cutting edge 9 eccentric to the wall portion 8 and extending between and disposed within the ends of the channel legs 6, whereby the extremities of said legs are adapted to engage at opposite portions of a bottle neck and present a portion of the cutting edge to the skirt of the sealing cap on the bottle neck to assure severing the same. As the implement is moved about the skirt of the sealing cap on the bottle neck, or the bottle is manipulated to move the skirt of the sealing cap relative to the cutting edge, the cap skirt is severed by a shearing action of the cutterafl To arrange thedevice or implement as a combined sealing cap severing device and bottle closure cap remover the channel walls 4' of the hand grip are undercut or recessed, as at IU, providing the same with projections ll adapted to be engaged below the edge of the skirt of a closure cap on a bottle with the portion 5 engaging the cap and serving as a fulcrum for the device in removing the cap.

In carrying out the embodiment of the invention shown in Figure 3, the device is in the form of a hand grip or handle I3 arranged withfa bifurcation Id at one end, shown as in the form of an arc of a circle extending through 180 degrees and with the extremities extending substantially in parallel relation. The concave surface of the bifurcation is provided with a recess I5 extended through the ends of the bifurcation legs and adapted for the slidable engagement of a cutter the back or edge opposite the cutting edge I 6 of which is in an arc concentric with the bifurcation, and the cutting edge being in an arc eccentric to the back edge. 'lhe cutter is of a width so that when it is mounted in the bifurcation groove IS the cutting edge extends between and is disposed within the ends of the bifurcation legs, as shown. By this arrangement, as also in the arrangement in Figure 1, as the cutting edge is engaged with the skirt of the sealing cap on the bottle neck only a portion of the cutting edge contacts the same with the result that by movement of the cutting edge or bottle one relative to the other there is effected a shearing of the skirt of the sealing cap, and by extending the ends of the bifurcation legs beyond the cutting shape in cross section and arranged at one end with an arcuate portion the legs of which are arranged of channel shape in cross section with the inner channel wall extending through an arc of 180 degrees transversely of the end of the hand grip, and said inner channel wall flanged laterally to extend in a horizontal plane below the plane of the connecting portion of the channel and arranged with an arcuate cutting edge extending between and disposed within the ends of the legs of the arcuate channel portion.

2. A device for severing sealingcaps for closures on bottle necks, a member formed from a sheet metal blank arranged as a hand grip of channel shape in cross section having an arcuate bifurcation at one end with the legs of which arranged of channel shape in cross section, and an arcuate cutting edge supported in the arcuate bifurcation in eccentric relation to the arcuate edge of the bifurcation and terminating within the ends of the bifurcation legs.

FREDERICK S. FOLGER. 

